A progress report on Douglas Aurélio

The Brazilian signed from Riga FC for a transfer fee, and has shown both potential and things to work on so far.

Perhaps Castellón’s biggest signing of the January transfer window, Brazilian winger-creator Douglas Aurélio now has a few games under his belt for the albinegros. Signed on a deal until 2028 (and for a transfer fee), the club clearly see him as an important player for the next few years, with aspirations of competing and winning at second division level. With that in mind, here is a look at how he has done so far, his strengths and weaknesses, and what position would suit him best within Dick’s system.

Position

At least on paper, Douglas has lined up in the “wing-back” role often occupied by Manu Sánchez, but in practice there is a lot of movement and drifting. In his first appearance as substitute against Atlético Madrid B, he stuck to the wing a lot more, but against Mérida, in his first start, he switched more central. That was especially the case in the second half, when Castellón went looking for the equaliser and brought on Iosifov, much more of a textbook wide player.

The fact that Schreuder has given the Brazilian a lot of freedom to move inside clearly benefits him, and allows him to play the position much better than if he would be more stuck on the wing. As a left-footed player on the right, Douglas’s main move is to cut in (a la Arjen Robben), which makes that freedom all the more necessary. The question is whether a case could be made either to move Medunjanin deeper, and play Douglas as a second striker with more creative freedom and fewer defensive responsibilities, or even as a false 9 alongside the Bosnian.

I would personally love to see him given a chance there. Although he hasn’t yet scored in Spain and his finishing numbers from Riga are not the best, his ability to read the game and drift into space gives him an important attribute for the role in Dick’s system. It’s that something regular striker Jesús De Miguel has also done very well, and combined with the fact that he’s not afraid to take shots, there’s no reason to think he couldn’t do well as part of a front two.

Strengths

Vision

Probably his biggest strength. When given space and a good view of the pitch, he can unlock a defense on his own. Here he is allowed to turn and makes a killer pass that eventually reaches Suero, as the defender does not close him down quick enough, or force him to play with his back to goal.

Anticipation and reading the game

Douglas is also excellent at timing and anticipation, as shown in the following two clips. In both cases, the defenders come in with movement, and the Brazilian is able to simply take a touch and get the foul in the first case, and touch the ball in the other direction of the moving defender in the second.

Moving into channels and seeing the space

This clip is why I think he could do quite well as a striker. Although you don’t see the full sequence, he actually starts largely on the other side of the pitch, sees that there is a gap between the defenders, and moves in. Medunjanin eventually finds him, and he though he can’t find the target from a tight angle, the idea is a good one. He finds space and gets touches in the box very well, it’s just a question of getting the last part right.

Weaknesses

Playing with his back to goal

As an opponent, the correct way to defend Douglas is to get close before he receives the pass so he can’t turn.

He struggles with his back to goal, when the defender sticks to him, or when he stops moving forward. In the following clip, he does a good job initially cutting inside, but the defender recovers and forces the pass back. It’s possible that a sharp move here would have forced the defender to risk giving away a penalty, but the Brazilian decided otherwise.

In this second example, Iosifov plays the ball in hard wanting a one-two, but Douglas doesn’t control it well with his back to goal and ends up giving away a free kick. The Brazilian is at his best when he’s moving, in space or looking forward, and it seems things get a bit more difficult for him when he’s not.

Defensive decision making

Although I haven’t actually seen too many poor defensive decisions from Douglas, it’s clear that in a wing-back role, he will have to get better defensively, whether it’s pressing at the right time or making decisions faster, like here.

He either has to close down much more quickly, so that the Córdoba player doesn’t have the space to run forward and play the ball to his teammate, or stay with his teammate and let Haris Medunjanin run back and cover. The problem is he hesitates, first staying back but then pressing, which allows the pass, forces Manu Sanchez to come out and cover, leaving Mendes open for a dangerous run into the box, but luckily Alberto comes over and makes the last-ditch challenge.

As Castellón take on Real Madrid Castilla tomorrow in a must-win encounter, it will be interesting to see if Douglas keeps his place in the XI, now that Manu Sánchez does not have to deputise at centre back. De Miguel is currently going through his longest spell without scoring, but dropping him to the bench would be still be a surprising change.

Thanks to Ben Griffis for the chart!